


She loves someone else

by CoincidenceConnection



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternative Scene, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Bruce Banner POV, But not really canon divergence, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Clintasha - Freeform, F/M, What should have been obvious to Bruce, Who Natasha really wants to run away with
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 23:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18648103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoincidenceConnection/pseuds/CoincidenceConnection
Summary: Bruce pondering why exactly Natasha wanted to run away with him. And who she was running away from.Short drabble of a kind of rewrite/extended version of that Bruce/Natasha scene in Clint's house in Avengers Age of Ultron. Mostly movie compliant apart from the Clintasha undertones I guess?





	She loves someone else

**Author's Note:**

> I've been having A LOT of Clintasha feels lately. 
> 
> Thought I'd kind of rectify Age of Ultron for a small scene, just to prove that despite the whole farm family fiasco, Clintasha was still a thing? 
> 
> Hope this makes sense. I've used a small part of the movie dialogue at the start of this to lead off.
> 
> Enjoy.

She said she wanted to run away with him.

And Bruce had just seen a whole new side to her.

Auntie Nat.

But he couldn’t give her a future like that.

He couldn’t give her a safe house with kids.

_“In the Red Room where I was…trained. Where I was raised. Um…they have a graduation ceremony. They sterilise you. It’s efficient. One less thing to worry about. The one thing that might matter more than a mission. Makes everything easier. Even killing. You still think you’re the only monster on the team?”_

Bruce took in her words, lying dead in the air between them.

A string of words, he thought upon seeing the haunted look in her eye, that were drilled into her. A mantra she knew by heart, everything that happened to her was efficient and effective. End of story.

But the heart-breaking tone of her voice? That was all her.

Clint leaned through the doorway before he had even knocked on the doorjamb.

Bruce moved his shirt closed further, becoming more aware that Natasha was only in her bathrobe.

But Barton didn’t have eyes for anyone but Natasha.

“We’re about to eat.” Clint said lightly. But Bruce saw the intense look in the other man’s eyes as he held some sort of silent conversation with his partner that gave away his light humour.

If there was one thing that Bruce had become especially good at since…well everything Gamma related, was staying on the outside, observing. And that was the only reason he noticed the slight flicker of a nod that Clint gave towards Bruce and Natasha moved her hands in a quick motion as if signing something back.

“We’ll be right down.” She said, matching Clint’s cheerful tone, all traces of her previous conflicting emotions hidden. But Bruce could tell that her unspoken words had told Clint something else.

“Alrighty.” Clint beamed a quick flash of a smile at her before disappearing.

It happened suddenly, but watching it felt like the whole world was in slow motion, as Natasha let her hand float over her abdomen for a second too long while gazing at the spot Clint had vacated.

Bruce felt like he had just been personally pummeled by the Hulk.

Maybe he had always known on a subconscious level.

But he should have _known_.

Natasha was never his to have.

Whether Clint knew it or not, he was the one who would always have her heart.

She didn't care about what Bruce could or couldn't give her. It would always be about what she could never have  _with Clint._

Bruce wasn’t stupid. He had seen the arrow necklace she wore when Clint wasn’t around. He had seen her risk everything for Barton. She was probably the most fearless person he knew, but even he had seen the absolute fear in her eyes whenever Barton was in danger.

Of course she wanted to run away.

“How…did Clint find all of this?” He asked, trying to lead the conversation away from the far too tempting offer she was giving him, as he heard Clint hollering to whoever was outside to come inside to eat.

Natasha pulled on the sleeve of her robe, “A few years after he…found me. He didn’t know if he could have all of this, as an agent…So I made it happen. Made Fury keep it off the books or no more Strike Team Delta.” She said with a wistful smile.

“Fury’s favourites, huh?” He tried to keep the conversation from plunging back to depths he knew would be wrong for the two of them.

“Don’t tell Stark that.” She deadpanned but her eyes were still searching his. Asking for answers to questions he didn’t want asked anymore.

She knew she couldn’t give Clint what surrounded them. A spy, avenging free life to escape to. A houseful of kids. A home. Not with the red in her ledger.

So she had pushed him into a life he was happy in.

Even at her own expense.

Bruce could feel the chemistry between himself and the woman in front of him, crackling like sparklers.

But even he knew it was nothing compared to the anchor of love that tethered Natasha to Clint.

And he couldn’t be her getaway.

She knew she was in pain, having to be surrounded by everything she wouldn’t have.

But Bruce saw the love there too.

Could see that she was genuinely happy that Clint was happy. And that was love.

Even if she was in pain because of it.

So sure they could runaway together, the offer had been treacherously tempting and she might even fall for him properly.

But she’d never love him.

Not in the way she loved Clint Barton.

 

 

 

 


End file.
